Illinois softball (20-28, 6-13) heads into its final series of the season against Iowa. This series will determine Illinois’ placement in the Big Ten tournament. It will also hold a senior day celebration for four players: senior pitcher Tori McQueen, senior utility player Abby Ryniec, senior shortstop Megan Ward and graduate student right fielder Kelly Ryono.
The current standings for the tournament have Illinois as the No. 11 seed, which is good enough to make the tournament. Illinois holds a two-game lead on Iowa who sit in last place of the Big Ten with the conference record of 4-16.
Iowa’s offense is currently led by junior outfielder Rylie Moss. Moss is batting .390 but is solely a contact hitter with zero home runs on the year. Freshman infielder Jenna Young leads the team’s home run category at four, while batting .388.
Illinois is led on offense by Ryono, who is batting in .359 and leads the team in home runs as well, currently holding 10 on the season.
On the mound, Iowa is led by sophomore pitcher Jalen Adams, boasting an ERA of 2.69. Junior pitcher Devyn Greer for Iowa has also had 49 strikeouts on the season, forcing Illinois’ bats to be smart this weekend.
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McQueen leads Illinois in the circle. She holds a 3.42 ERA and has 151 strikeouts on the season as she has built up quite a workload. McQueen has been able to go the distance repeatedly this season, which has helped bump up her numbers.
Illinois also uses junior pitcher Lauren Wiles on the mound and in the bullpen. Wiles is throwing for a 6.26 ERA with a 2.27 WHIP.
Last time out for Illinois they avoided being swept by Ohio State with an 11-6 victory over Ohio State in game three. Illinois still lost the series two games to one, and now needs to build momentum for the postseason.
The last time out for Iowa saw them losing to Northern Iowa by a final score of 6-5. Illinois, earlier in the season, also lost Northern Iowa in five innings.
In that Northern Iowa loss, Illinois was shut out during the game, while Iowa was able to put up five runs against Northern Iowa. Both Illinois and Iowa were both swept against Minnesota earlier in the season as well.
Illinois currently leads Iowa in the all-time head-to-head matchup with 30 wins and 26 losses. Head coach Tyra Perry has a 16-6 record against Iowa and even won 13 in a row against Iowa from 2015-19.
With the opportunity to get another win streak going this weekend, Illinois hopes to have seats filled for their annual “World’s Largest Softball Tailgate.” It’s the 17th edition of this event which will include tailgating and a t-shirt giveaway in the final 2024 series at Eichelberger Field.
Illinois starts the series Friday, May 3 with the first pitch at 5 p.m. Game two is on Saturday at 1 p.m. and the Sunday finale begins at noon. All three games will be streamed on B1G+
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